The Chinese symbol for family — 家 (jiā)

Where the character comes from

家 is 宀, a roof, over 豕, a pig. A house with a pig under it is a settled household rather than a camp, and that is the usual gloss. The 豕 element may also have been partly phonetic in the earliest forms; specialists do not agree.

How it is actually used

回家 is to go home, 家人 is family members, 家庭 is the family unit, 大家 is 'everybody', and 国家 is a country — literally state and household together. It is also a measure word for businesses: 一家饭馆 is 'a restaurant'.

Both glyphs above are set in whatever Chinese font your device uses, which is a 楷书-derived regular script — the same shape a printer or a tattoo studio's "Chinese font" will produce. Brush styles (行书 running, 草书 cursive, 篆书 seal) look substantially different and are worth commissioning from a calligrapher rather than approximating from a font. You can watch this character written stroke by stroke in the Stroke Order Animator or practise it on printable 田字格 sheets.

This is the part a symbol list leaves out, and it is the fastest way to feel what a character actually carries. Readings and meanings come from the same dictionary that powers the translator; tap any word for its full dictionary entry.

家 is one answer, not the answer. Which of these is right depends on what you mean by "family" — and that is usually the question worth settling before anything is written down permanently.

What is the Chinese symbol for family?

家 (jiā) means home first and family second. It is the household — the place and the people in it — rather than the bloodline or the clan, and it doubles as the ordinary word for a business premises. It is written 家 and pronounced jiā.

What does 家 not mean?

It does not mean family in the lineage sense — that is 家族 (the extended clan) or 氏族. And it is not the abstract value 'family' that English uses in slogans; 家 is a concrete noun.

Is 家 commonly mistranslated?

Yes. The claim you will meet most often is: "家 means family bonds and blood ties." It means the household. 家族 is the clan and 亲人 is your relatives. 家 can equally mean the flat you rent alone. This page lists 3 such claims about 家 with what is true instead.

Is 家 the same in simplified and traditional Chinese?

家 is identical in simplified and traditional Chinese, ten strokes. Its roof radical 宀 gives it a stable, symmetrical silhouette that works at almost any size, which is part of why it is such a common choice for signs and seals.

What else can I use for family in Chinese?

Depending on what you mean: 家庭, 家族, 亲. This page explains when each one is the right choice, and 家 itself lives in words such as 家人, 回家, 国家.